


Sans Swap

by Yoshachu



Category: Undertale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Candytale, Alternate Universe - Errortale, Alternate Universe - Outertale, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Mild Language, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 14:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7056385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yoshachu/pseuds/Yoshachu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans builds a machine intended to travel back in time, but instead it opens up a gateway to an alternate universe. After a mistake he didn't even know he made until too late, he and his alternate selves scatter across the multiverse, and it's up to him to bring everyone back to their home worlds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Machine

Sans had always known about the many different realities of the Underground. He had learned by accident once upon a time many timelines ago, back when he actually cared about getting their world out of the dominating grasp of  **determination**  and all the things that came with it. Back then, he had been one of the two assistants of the Royal Scientist, W.D. Gaster, his father; the other assistant was Alphys.

It was just a regular day. Gaster was, as usual, working hard on developing counterfeit human souls to try and "trick the lock" of the barrier trapping monsters Underground, roughly a year after the War of Races between the monsters and humans. He, Sans, and Alphys were all just about to make a breakthrough, too. They finally learned that adding a touch of monster SOUL pigments with the humans' was the key to actually keeping them in tact. After all, humans and monsters were always meant to live together in harmony as they relied on each other's powers to thrive: monsters relied on the humans'  **determination**  and other traits such as justice and kindness, as humans relied on monster magic.

Unfortunately, they never got the chance to actually create the seven fake human SOULs. The Core had overheated despite the efforts of a few monsters in Snowdin sending blocks of ice via the river to the area to keep it cooled, and the whole facility spiraled out of control. Gaster had held Sans and Alphys back as he tried to steer it back into control, but instead a beam had collapsed into the balcony. The Royal Scientist had lost his balance, and before his assistants could even move he fell into the Core, never to be seen again.

After a blinding white light and a devastating explosion, everything went black.

When Sans came to, he found himself laying on the sofa in his house. Apparently, he lived in Snowdin Town with his younger brother Papyrus rather than in Hotland with his father. But that was the weirdest part. The weirdest part is that no one even remembered Gaster. Sans had tried to approach Papyrus about the destruction of their father, but his brother didn't seem to remember him at all. No one remembered him. No one even remembered Sans being his assistant. According to monsters, Alphys had always been the Royal Scientist, and she didn't have any known assistants. When Sans tried to get in contact with her, she didn't seem to recognize Gaster, either. Heck, she barely even remembered Sans himself, and they were best friends during the time before Gaster fell!

Sans was completely at a loss. He had no idea what was going on. How could someone falling into the Core screw everything up? Well, Sans was determined to find out exactly what the hell happened to their world. There was an unused room in the back of the brothers' house, which was the perfect place for a mini lab. Sans bought a key and padlock to attach to the door and keep anyone - especially Papyrus - from sneaking in whenever he was gone. He gathered many materials from Hotland specifically to build a machine, making sure to use his and Gaster's old secret language to ensure no one could make out the words. This machine was to be used to go back in time and prevent Gaster from falling into the Core. He drew out many blueprints for the time machine, and once he was satisfied we went to work immediately. However, that wasn't before he drew a little sketch of himself, Papyrus, and Gaster. He wrote, "Don't forget" on the bottom right corner, and once he finished he hid the drawing in a drawer under his blueprints and other notes he had to rewrite from the past timeline.

It took Sans way too many timelines to finally complete the time machine; he learned there was a mysterious force that could turn back time at any given moment, but the source or controller of this power was unknown. He made sure to write down as many notes on the phenomenon as possible, and he made sure never to take any of these notes out of his workshop as it seemed to be unaffected by the anomaly. He had decided to call these strange occurrences RESETs, as they were similar to a game being reset by a player. Each time these RESETs occurred, Sans noticed that everyone would act the exact same way they had the timeline before, almost as if they were some kind of NPCs of a video game.

Once the time machine was finally completed, he decided to test it. Crossing his fingers and hoping his invention would work, he switched on the power and waited as the energy built up until it had enough juice to summon a colorful vortex-like wall. He was successful enough to create a portal! So far so good.

But what Sans saw on the other side completely baffled him. He was staring back at something. No, at some _one_. The being on the other side was wearing what looked like some kind of very light armor; it was a little hard to tell with all the swirling colors of the portal. The being was wearing a shirt with gloves and boots, as well as shoulder paddings and a bandana around his neck. This being was also a skeleton.

And this skeleton looked just like Sans.

Sans leaped back in alarm, sockets widened. He had absolutely no explanation for what the heck was going on. He was so distracted by the strange occurrence that he didn't even notice the smoke rising from the back of the machine. It was beginning to malfunction. It was using far too much power from the Core, and it caused the machine to overload.

It exploded and broke down, which scared Sans nearly half to dust. Once he gripped his bearings he began to silently curse himself for becoming too distracted and not turning off the machine before anything like this could have happened. Now he had to rebuild the machine all over again, or rather patch it back up.

But what if it didn't work the next time? It didn't work this time; instead, he just saw some...  _copy_  of himself. He had spent too much time on this damn mess of a machine, and frankly he wasn't too keen on trying again only to expect another failure. Besides, what were the chances it would break down again when he went back and couldn't return, destined to hide away for the rest of his natural life just to avoid meeting his past self and disturbing the space-time continuum?

Sighing in defeat, Sans slumped out of the workshop and returned a few minutes later with his pink bed sheet. He draped it over the machine to cover it up. His project was a failure, and he wasn't too keen on looking at it again so he could be reminded of how much of a failure he was himself. He had given up trying to fix the world.

He had given up on everything.

Sans locked the door to the workshop once he stepped out and went back inside the house through the front door. Papyrus was out recalibrating his puzzles in Snowdin Forest in hopes to catch a human in one of them, so he was all alone. He trudged up to his room and stepped inside once unlocking it, and he approached the drawer next to his bed. He pulled the key to his workshop out of his pocket, looked at it for a while, and sighed as he dropped it carelessly in the drawer and closed it.

With all hopes of fixing the world lost, Sans flopped into his messy bed and fell asleep.


	2. Time-Space Hiccup

Tens of hundreds of timelines flashed by since Sans gave up on his project. He was just as lazy as he ever was. Well, no, he was only pretending to be lazy. The truth of the matter was he had developed his own personal philosophy over time: no matter what he did, no matter how he felt, no matter what would change, it would all be RESET and nothing he ever did in the past timeline would have ever mattered. So why bother doing anything at all if it was all going to be wiped clean?

This state was taking a major toll on Sans, physically, mentally, and emotionally. He was growing more and more depressed as the timelines went by, and he often times found himself beating himself up for not having the same intellectual capabilities as Gaster needed to actually make that damn machine of his work. He not only failed himself, but also all the monsters in the Underground. If it weren't for it exploding like that, Sans would have found a way to tweak the machine so he could go back in time and keep Gaster from falling into the Core, or better yet keep the Core from overheating. They'd surely be freed from their imprisonment by then.

But no, everyone was still trapped underground, stuck in an eternal time loop no one but Sans knew about, living life carefree and naive, unaware of the real tragedies unfolding behind the scenes. If only Sans had had some kind of help. If only he hadn't seen that stupid copy of himself who distracted him from stopping the machine from malfunctioning.

Wait. The copy.

Sans quickly sat up from where he was laying on the bar counter at Grillby's, his grip on a ketchup bottle tightening. Perhaps the reason why he saw a copy of himself was because, perhaps, his timeline had been split into two, or four, or ten, or even a thousand alternate universes of his own! The Sans he saw on the other side of that portal did look very different from himself, and now that he thought about it he seemed to make out a few traces of Papyrus in him, too; the way he stood with his hands on his hips, that confident grin plastered on his face, the straightened back and head held high in self-assurance.

Perhaps... Now this is just a theory, but... What if Sans were to recruit other copies of himself from alternate universes to help him finish the machine and set everything right again?

For the first time in longer than Sans could even remember, he was filled with  **determination**.

"Hey, Grillby," Sans spoke up a little louder than he intended. The fire elemental who ran the restaurant looked over sharply at him, surprised by his tone and the sparkle of confidence in his eye lights. He placed the half-empty bottle of ketchup down on the counter. He was too anxious to begin testing his theory; ketchup could wait. "I have to go. Put it on my tab, will ya?"

Without waiting for a response, Sans trotted out of the restaurant faster than anyone had ever seen the supposed lazy skeleton move before.

Once home, Sans quickly unlocked the front door and burst in, rushing upstairs to his room. He skid to a halt when he heard a familiarly loud voice call out his name from the kitchen. "Sans? Is that you?"

"Er... Yeah, Paps, it's me," he responded hesitantly. He totally overlooked the possibility of Papyrus being home, and of course he would have attracted his attention by barging in noisily like that.

"What are you doing home from Grillby's so early?" Papyrus shouted questioningly. "You don't normally return until an hour from now."

"I, uh, just forgot somethin' important," Sans replied quickly. Though it wasn't a complete lie - he did need to grab something important: his key to the workshop - it wasn't the full truth, either. He always felt bad for lying to his brother, and this time was most certainly no different. But he was keen on keeping Papyrus as happy and cheerful as possible, as that was always the primary thing that motivated him to even getting out of bed every morning. The last thing he wanted to do was worry his little brother about some time anomaly and risk ruining that perfect happiness he always seemed to radiate in waves, making everyone around him feel so much better. "I just need to grab it real quick, then I'll be outta your  **angel hair**." Despite the gravity of the situation, Sans was never one to resist the opportunity for a good pun.

Ignoring his brother's frustrated groan, he unlocked the door to his room and rushed in, opening the drawer and sifting through his sock collection until he finally located the key. He quickly slipped out of his room and house, bidding a quick farewell to Papyrus, and rushed to the back of the house to enter his workshop.

It had been forever since he was last in this room. It wasn't affected by the RESETs, so everything was still in place. That being said, there was a lot of dust and cobwebs lingering around, and Sans sneezed when a few dust particles floating in the air went up his nasal cavity. Not being one to do any cleaning - and since he was more focused on rebuilding the machine in the first place - Sans ignored the dust as he closed the door behind him and went to work.

Thankfully, all he needed to do was put the pieces of the machine back together again like some sort of complex jigsaw puzzle, using his blueprints as a guide. It didn't take nearly as much time building it back together as he originally thought, probably because he was too excited to get in contact with that Sans copy. Within a few hours, he had finished rebuilding the machine, making sure to unhook a few power chords from the back as to not overload it again.

Mentally preparing himself for the worst, yet hoping for the best - which was kind of hard for him since he was a pessimist - he turned on the power and waited for the portal to appear. Within moments, it did, and Sans was pleased to find that same copy of himself on the other side. The copy was looking away from him at something else, but whatever it was he was grinning brightly and striking a few pose. He immediately recognized his copy to be posing in a mirror, as those poses were normally what Papyrus would pull whenever he caught him doing the same thing in his room. Sans couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

Apparently, the portal didn't block out sounds as he expected, and the copy turned to look at him sharply before letting out a cry of alarm and leaping back. Sans found himself holding up his hands in an attempt to calm the copy down. "H-Hey, hey, don't worry, buddy! I'm not gonna hurt ya!"

The copy blinked a few times as he stared back at Sans with wide eyes, his blue eye lights sparkling in awe. A grin suddenly stretched across his face as he leaped forward, leaning in a bit. "Wowie! An alternate version of myself! That's so neat!"

Sans found yet another bullet point that compared this alternate version of himself with his brother, and he couldn't help but grin fondly. "More like  _you're_  the alternate version of me."

"Wait, you're the original Sans?" The copy let out a loud gasp as he bounced with Papyrus' same enthusiasm. "That's so cool! You have no idea how long we've been wanting to meet  _the_  Sans Classic!"

"We?" Sans echoed, arching a brow in confusion.

"Yeah! There's a lot of AUs - those stand for alternate universes - and I like to chat with some of the other Sanses from time to time. In fact, I just recently came back from this super awesome party celebrating Error's birthday!"

Sans' sockets widened. There were more alternate universes other than this one? How many were out there? And how many copies of himself were out there? Also, who was Error? "Care to tell me about it?"

"Sure! By the way, you may know me as just a Sans, but I'm not just any Sans. I am the Magnificent Sansational Sans, future member of the Royal Guard! Mweh heh heh!"

Well, that settles it. This Sans here is exactly what he himself would be if his personality swapped with Papyrus. It was fascinating, yet disturbing at the same time. Sans found himself wanting to know more and more about this universe until eventually the whole purpose of why he rebuilt and started back up the time machine in the first place was forgotten.

"Well, nice to meet you," Sans chuckled, grinning as he placed a hand in his pocket to slip on his secretly stashed hand whoopee cushion before pulling it back out to the other Sans. "Name's, well, Sans the skeleton. Or, uh, Sans Classic as you called me."

"Nice to me-" A bright light and loud sucking-like noise cut the other Sans off. He had reached his gloved hand through the portal to shake hands with Sans, but as soon as they touched the machine started to smoke up again. Neither one of them had time to pull back before the blinding light engulfed them both. Sans had to shut his eyes to avoid being blinded.

Once he finally opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was not a broken-down machine or even his living room after another RESET, but rather... candy? He slowly blinked as he looked up, and he was astonished to find he was practically in a land made entirely out of candy. The trees were made out of what looked to be candy canes as the bushes were cotton candy. The patches of grass were sugar stalks, and there were little bits and pieces of rock candies buried under what smelled like chocolate milk powder for dirt. Sans found he was laying in a patch of what seemed to be snow, but upon scooping some up on an index finger and tasting it, he found it to be frozen whipped cream.

Sans leaped to his feet quickly and brushed off the cream from his pants and hoodie. Ahead of him he saw a town that looked exactly like Snowdin if it were made out of candy. There were many gingerbread houses in town with monsters playing around the big Gyftmas tree that was made of candy cane for the trunk and cotton candy for the leaves. Upon closer inspection, Sans noticed that the monsters, too, were made out of candy, or at least they closely resembled it. One of the monsters was recognized to be Monster Kid, who had candy corns for spikes on his head and wore an orange and yellow striped shirt.

What in the name of King Asgore was going on around here? Was touching that other Sans enough to screw up his world so much that it turned into some kind of giant candy shop? Or was he in a different alternate universe the other Sans was speaking of. He had said there were lots of AUs out there. Perhaps this was one of them.

A thought suddenly occurred to him. If this was the same exact world but candied, does that mean his friends are here as well? What candies are they? Is his own doppelgänger here? If he was, perhaps Sans could get some answers from him.

Sans placed his hands in his pockets and began walking through town. He noticed the residents side glancing and giving him strange looks, and Sans began to feel a bit self-conscious. After all, he was pretty much the only one in town that wasn't dressed up in some kind of candy. What kind of candy was he supposed to represent anyway? Cotton candy for the fur on his hoodie and slippers? Or perhaps some kind of hard candy for his bones?

The skeletal monster approached his house and looked up at it. It, like the other houses, was made out of gingerbread with white icing and bright candies dappled along it. The door appeared to be made out of vanilla wafers. Sans had to take a few moments to resist not taking a large bite out of the sweet-smelling house before opening it.

Inside, the couch was made of gumdrops and the TV was made of wafers like the door, but the strange thing is it was on and playing an MTT rerun; Sans noticed that Mettaton himself resembled a strawberry pop tart. The flooring was painted with differently colored frosting, as were the walls, and even his pet rock was a chunk of gray rock candy sitting on a cookie plate. Jeez, absolutely everything in this house was made out of sweets, and Sans was getting more and more hungry by the second!

"Sans, is that you?" a familiar voice called from upstairs. Sans found himself grinning as he recognized Papyrus' voice; no matter what world he was in, he'd always find joy in hearing his brother's voice.

"Well... Kinda," Sans murmured. He had to remind himself that he wasn't the Sans this Papyrus knows. Come to think of it, wouldn't his candy-coated counterpart be here with his brother? Or was he out eating some kind of sugary replacement of ketchup at Grillby's?

Papyrus' door opened, and the tall skeletal monster stepped out to grin a greeting at him. Sans saw that he was sporting what looked to be his same battle body as from his home world, but it was different shades of brown with red-and-white-striped limb attire that resembled candy canes. Sans guessed immediately that his alternate brother's resembled candy was chocolate.

Sans watched as Papyrus' grin fell to a confused frown, and he furrowed his brows. "Sans? What's with the new attire? And your eyes. They're not pink. Where's your lollipop? And your bottle of strawberry jelly?"

The older skeletal monster started feeling really uncomfortable. He didn't exactly know how to go about explaining to him that he wasn't even from this dimension, and now he was being stockpiled with all kinds of candies and such that his own Sans seemed to sport on a daily basis; it was starting to rattle his skull. Now that he thought about it, he didn't even know if he wanted this Papyrus to know what was going on with the different AUs. What if this world's Sans was just as determined to preserve his innocence as he was with his own? He didn't want to ruin anything, that's for sure.

But at this point he didn't feel he had much of a choice in the matter. He needed help getting back home, and now. Who knew what would happen to his Papyrus if he were gone for too long? As much as he hated doing this to any Papyrus, he knew it was going to have to be a necessary sacrifice. After all, the fabric of space-time was practically ripped if he was trapped in an alternate universe.

"Well... Actually... I have something I need to tell you, Pap."


	3. Sans Classic in Candytale

Sans proceeded to tell Papyrus everything: how he was the original Sans from the original universe, why he built the time machine in the first place, his meeting with the other Sans, and how he ended up in this world. The whole time he told his story he noticed this Papyrus' eyes growing wider and wider with fascination, and he would ask the occasional question to understand certain parts he wasn't so clear on. Good, at least he wasn't scaring or confusing him.

What happened next, however, was nothing even close to what he expected.

"Wowie! I can't believe I'm meeting the original Sans!" Papyrus exclaimed excitedly.

"Wait, what?" Sans stuttered, nearly falling over he was so taken aback. "You know about the alternate universes?"

"Of course I do! We all get the occasional visit from different AU monsters all the time! They're all really nice! Well, except for our Underfell counterparts. And Error. But we do like Blueberry and Carrot!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on!" Sans held out his hands and shook them frantically, gesturing for the chocolate monster to stop. He had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Underfell? Error? Blueberry and Carrot? Were these all different universes, too? "Uhh... Who exactly are these people?"

"Underfell is an AU where everyone's really mean to one another," Papyrus explained. "They all have very high LOVE because they're always killing one another. It's a very violent place. Error is more or less the Death of AUs, always destroying those "dirty glitches in the multiverse". Thankfully he didn't make it here yet, and we also have Ink to keep him in check. He's like Life; he creates AUs. Then there's Blueberry and Carrot. Those are just nicknames we gave them. They're from an AU called Underswap, a world where everyone's personalities are swapped. So that world's Papyrus acts like, well, you, while that Sans acts like the original Papyrus."

Sans blinked in awe, his jaw a bit gaped. So all the monsters of different universes knew each other and have the power to go between them? He supposed his world was the only one who couldn't get any visits - not easily anyway - for it was the original one. That also meant that the Sans he met was this Blueberry character, the one from the universe Underswap. He was learning so much more than he could've ever learned through research all on his own! Well, as people always said, you always learn the most through primary sources.

"Well, do you know how I can get back to my universe?" Sans asked.

To his surprise, Papyrus' grin fell to a worried frown as he shook his head. "I don't. No one's ever met Sans Classic before, let alone visited his universe or knew where it was. Wait." The chocolate monster stiffened, his eyes wide. "If you're here... Does that mean my brother is in your world?! Oh, no, Sans!"

Sans recoiled in alarm. That's right, he totally forgot about that possibility. If he was present, which this world's Sans wasn't, that meant they had swapped universes. Now that he thought about it, perhaps Underswap Sans had swapped into another universe as well since he was involved. Candytale's Sans wasn't even involved in this, so who knew how many other universes were affected by the anomaly?

He just had to find a way to fix this. For everyone's sake as well as his own.

"Papyrus," Sans began, standing up. "Do you know if your Sans has some kind of secret workshop or something?"

"Secret workshop?" Papyrus echoed, his brows furrowing in confusion.

Drat, that's right! If any of the Sanses were like him, they'd all make sure not to tell anyone about their secret workshop, especially Papyrus. He didn't even know if this world's Sans had one, and even if he did he now thought better than to snoop through his stuff. "Is there anything else we can do to fix this?"

"Well, we have Alphys, but I'm not sure if she'd be able to help much," Papyrus confessed. "No Alphys in any world knows nearly as much about AUs as the Sanses and Papyruses. If we had any hope, we'd have to find Error."

Talking to the Death of the AU administration? Sans did not like the sound of that. But perhaps this was the only chance he could be able to get in finding a way home. Also, if this Error character was so keen on destroying AUs only, there's no chance he'll try to destroy the original world.

Right?

"Okay," Sans nodded, finally making up his decision. "Let's find Error and get the universes back in order."

* * *

Papyrus was on his way back home from the Snowdin shop. In his lanky arms he carried several brown paper bags filled to the brim with ingredients needed to make spaghetti. He was running low on food back at his house, and thankfully the shopkeeper had just gotten a restock on pasta and vegetables. He was pretty excited to make more spaghetti for his dear older brother.

Speaking of which, he was a little worried about him. He came home an hour early from Grillby's - something he'd never do unless there was something absolutely important he had to take care of - and he was in quite a rush, too. Had something bad happened that made him come home rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off?

Well, whatever happened, he was definitely going to be the first to find out. The Great Papyrus did have his methods of getting Sans to tell him what he needs to know, after all. It was a rather new method he discovered a few days ago, and it was pretty effective. Let's just say said method really tickles Sans' funny bone... literally.

Papyrus winced at the pun. Sans really was a bad influence.

The tall skeletal monster reached into his scarf where he kept his keys hidden securely and unlocked the door to the front door of his house. He opened it with difficulty considering he was carrying about five paper bags and stepped inside, using his foot to close the door behind him. He went straight to the kitchen to deposit the groceries.

That's when he caught a strange scent.

It smelled like someone had just been recently cooking in their kitchen, but it didn't smell like that quiche with the strange non-egg filling Sans had made that one time. It smelled like... chicken, seasoning, and cheese.

Unable to find the source of the smell, he shrugged and left the mystery unsolved. He placed the pasta boxes in the cupboard and opened the fridge to place the vegetables in it. That's when he saw something that wasn't in there before. Placing the vegetables inside and picking up the tupperware, Papyrus opened it and saw that there were chicken tacos with cheese and lettuce inside it.

"Was Sans trying to make tacos?" Papyrus spoke to no one in particular. He picked one of them up and took a bite into it, grunting as a shower of lettuce and cheese fell back into the tupperware. It actually tasted really good, which indicated that it couldn't have been Sans who made it; he didn't know the first thing about cooking after all.

Had someone broken into his house to make tacos while he was away?

"Who's in my house?" Papyrus called out. He summoned a bone club and gripped it tightly as he stomped into the living room. He may be very welcoming, but he did not tolerate intruders or trespassers. "Come on out! Or I won't make you any of my famous spaghetti!"

No one responded, and at first Papyrus figured whoever had barged into his home had left. Still wanting to make sure, he slowly crept up the stairs and placed his ear canal up to the door, listening for any noises that could indicate an intruder, and he heard a silent "Mweh heh heh" on the other side. Gripping the bone club tightly in one hand, he quickly flung the door wide open and took a fighting stance, ready to fight any trespasser he came face-to-face with.

Papyrus froze in place, his eyes widening. The monster in his room who was currently yelping in alarm and covering his face protectively with his arms looked exactly like Sans, but there were many differences. For one thing, this Sans was much shorter than his own. He was also wearing what looked to be some kind of battle body of his own. His eye lights were also bright blue rather than pure white.

"Sans?" Papyrus spoke, lowering the bone club. "But... You can't be Sans. Sans is taller and... not dressed like that. Are you an impostor?"

"N-No, I am a Sans, just not Sans Classic," the other Sans stammered with a sheepish grin.

Sans Classic? Who was Sans Classic? And where did this Sans come from? What was he doing in Papyrus' room? Why did he make those tacos? Millions of questions whirled around in Papyrus' skull, dizzying him and causing him to stumble a bit. Everything was becoming so scary and confusing!

"You alright, Papy Classic?" the Sans asked nervously as he rushed to his side to keep him from falling over. "Do you need to sit?"

"Papy Classic?" Papyrus echoed. "My name isn't Papy Classic. It's Papyrus."

"I know that. That's just the nickname everyone came up for the original Papyrus. Er... Perhaps I should do some explaining, huh?"

Papyrus sat down on his race car bed and listened as this Sans told his story. Apparently there were hundreds of alternate universes - or AUs as this Sans called them - and Papyrus himself was the original while all the others were alternate versions. Sans said he came from an AU called Underswap, a world where personalities were swapped with an ideal partner; that explained why this Sans looked just like Papyrus' real brother but behaved like himself. He said his nickname was Blueberry Sans, so that's what Papyrus decided to call him from there on out.

Next, Blueberry Sans went on to talk about how he actually met Sans Classic - Papyrus' brother from his universe - after some sort of time machine experiment. Papyrus never even knew Sans built machines in his free time. The two doppelgängers had tried to shake each other's hands, and that caused some sort of rip in the space-time continuum. Now Blueberry Sans was separated from his home world while Sans Classic was in another one, and it was likely that a few other Sanses in other AUs were scattered in foreign universes as well.

"Wowie... That's really something..." Papyrus murmured once Blueberry Sans finished, finding himself deep in thought. "So my brother is trapped in another dimension? And you're here... Your Papyrus must be missing you a lot."

"Oh, you're right, how did I not think of that?" Blueberry Sans exclaimed. "Aww, man! What's he gonna do without his cool brother looking after him? He's probably super worried about me! And there might be another Sans there with him! Two Sanses in the same place are never a good thing! Well, unless it's me, because I'm not like other Sanses."

"Do you know how to right this wrong?" Papyrus asked.

The Underswap version of his brother shook his head. "Nope. Paps - my Paps - is the one in the scientific field, not me; all I know is how to make tacos and build traps."

"You were the one who made the tacos?"

"Yeah! I wanted to apologize to the Papyrus of whoever's universe I fell into for appearing in his house by making him tacos! Did you try one?"

"I did, it's absolutely spectacular! If you'd like, I could let you try some of my famous spaghetti!"

"Ooo! I'd love to try some!"

The hype of making food and swapping recipes for one another completely wiped away the concern of returning the Sanses to their home dimensions.


	4. Taffy Sans in Underfell

"So, how are we supposed to find Error, Paps?" Sans asked, slipping his hands lazily in his hoodie pockets.

"Oh, no, we don't find Error; Error finds us," Papyrus corrected with a smile. "I... don't exactly remember how to go to different AUs; only my Sans does. But I know that he'd notice the disturbance in the universes, so he'd probably try to come looking for Sans Classic - you. He should be here momentarily looking for you."

Sans nodded in understanding. That seemed to make a bit of sense. Well, not really. Why would Error come looking for him and not Ink? After all, Ink is the one who creates AUs while Error destroys them, at least according to Papyrus. Well, frankly he didn't really care who came to help him, so long as he and the other Sanses made their ways back home. "So, how long do I gotta wait?"

"Not̸ ̢͞ļ̶͞o҉͢ń̶͝g͘ ͡a̕͝t͟͏̷ ̶al͘͡l."

Sans jumped a bit at the new voice, which sounded incredibly glitchy like some kind of broken recorder. The voice came from above, so instinctively he and Papyrus both looked up to find a black creature up above. He looked to be another Sans as well, only his attire seemed to be averted in color. He also had little lines all over him with a few "ERROR" symbols floating around him, and his bloodshot eyes were leaking what looked to be blue tears. He was hanging upside down by blue strings, which were all tied around his fingers.

"Heya, how's it  **hangin'**?" Sans chuckled with a lazy grin. The pun was overly used - even Sans would admit that - but he still refused to give up any opportunity that called for it.

"I̷f̢͏ ̸̛I̴̸ ͢h̀͏a̶̡d͟͝ ͘͏5̛g̴ ̧f̨o͏r ̶͘ev̀e̡r͠y̛ ͘͏t́͞i̕͘͢m҉͟e̷͘ ̀I҉̴ ̶̡͠h̡e̛͡a͜r̷d̕ ̸̴t͞ḩ̷͝ą͠ţ́ ̴͞j̸ok͏̶̴e̢̕..͟͡.͘͏͢" the doppelgänger groaned as he rolled his eyes. He righted himself up and landed between Sans and Papyrus. "S̸͠o҉,͟ ̡y͜͠o̡ú͞'̵̵͞ŕ̶̵é̵̕ ̷̵̢S̶an͠͏̵s̶ ͜͠C̨l̵͘͞a̶҉s͜͝s̛͡i͠͡c͏͜,̴ ҉̸͟h͜͡u̡͡h͟͟? ͘͝Wi̧̛s͡h I̛ ̛͡c͏ơ͝u͞͝l͠͏͞d̛́҉ s͟a̧͟y̴͠ ̀̕it̴̕͡'͢s̀͢͞ ̸̛͞a ́pl͟͡e̶̷a҉̡ś̶͢u̕͢r̀͟͞e̴ ̀͠t͏ò̧ ͘͠m̕͢e̶et̵̶͘ ̶̸̛y̸o̸͝ư͢͢, ̢b҉u̡̢͢t͠ ͘̕I͝͡'̧͏ve̸ s̛͜͠éen̴̴͠ ͏̵y̸̕͘o̶̷ų ̵à f̵e̴҉w̕̕ t͏i҉̀m҉e̕ş̸ ͏͡a̶̴r̷͡o̢̧u͝n̴d̛͠ ́͏a͞c̕t̨̀u͞a̶͘͜l̀͏l͝͠y͢.̨͢ ̧͠P̶͝r͢o̴̢b̶a̕b͟͏ĺy͘͜ ̷̕b̕e҉c҉̷à̵͜ư̧s͏̡e ̴͜Ì͏ c̷a̵̕n̛̕͝ ͜s̕͜͠e͞e̴ ̡͜e̵͡v̡e̢҉r̷̶y̧͟ţhi͡ńg̕ ̶̡i͏̴͜n̡͟͟ ̡̛th͢e̸͠ ͠҉a͞n͢͜t̡̨i̡-v̸̸oìd̡.͞"

Sans found it a little difficult to understand his speech as it was keeping on lagging and raising in pitch at random. "And you're Error, huh? Well, you probably know of the  **error**  in the multiverse. Got any plans on how to fix it?"

"Ś͠͠t̸̀̀op̵ wi҉͡th̷́ ̨̕t̶h͘o͞şȩ̢ ̴̀p͘͞ú̕͠ns҉̸͜ ͏̷͘a҉n̶͏d̸͞ ̡͘͘I̢̨͘'͞l͘l̸ ̵t̴e̕͘͡ļ͢l͢͢ y̴̨͘ou̷͢,̸͏" Error warned with a glare. He rose his arm and swiped it off to the side, causing a white glitchy portal to appear.

Sans found his breath was caught in his throat, and his eyes widened. Out of everything he had experienced today, this was perhaps the strangest. "Whoa, that's pretty trippy."

"C͏̡o͜͝m̴͠e ̵o̶̶̕n҉̡,͢ ̸̴̡Sa̢ns̛,̸͜͟ w̢e̕ ͞ç͡͞a͡ń'̴t ̴́̕w̧͏͝a̵̛s͡t̴͠e͜ ͟a͝n͏͝y̸̧͜m͏̡ó͢r͘͞e̢ ͡t͢im̕e̸͝,̡" Error cautioned, gesturing for Sans to step through. He held out his arm as Papyrus began to step forward. "S̶͠͠o̷͏͢ŕ̡͜r͢͏̢y,҉ ̨̨p͞a̷͠l,̨̧ ̀b̶̡ut͢͢ ̸͝th̛̀͜i҉ş͡ ̀ì̵̸s̕͞ ̴̧͠s̸̕o҉m҉̶e͞t̛h͢i҉́͢ng ̧ǫ̴͘n̵̨l̴͠y͏͏ S͝a̷ń̸̸s ͞C̶̵͝l̷͟a̴͞ss͝҉͘i̛c ̴̧s̷͠h̸̡͢o̷u̕͢͝l̛͟͟d́͡ ̷͏s͜e͢͝e͢͜.͏͞ ̕̕͝S͏҉t͜á̡͠y̶͘͟ ̷͡b҉̨eh̵i̸n̨d҉͡ ͜͠a͏n͟͏d҉ ͞w͘͠a̷͝i̢̧t̵͘͘ ͘͘f͡o͡͏ŕ̷ ͡T͏a͜f̸̀f͘҉̸y̵͘ ͏͜Sa̶̢͘ńs̡͢ ̕͜͝t̴o͜ c̴͡ơ͝me͢ b̢̕a̵̢c̢̀͢ḱ͏,͜ ̵̸eh̷̛?̀͠"

"O-Oh, okay," Papyrus stammered before backing back up. "Sans, please do your best to fix everything, and bring my brother back."

"Don't worry, bro from a different world," Sans chuckled. "I'll set everything right. See you  **choco-later**." Snickering as the chocolate monster let out a frustrated shout, he stepped into the anti-void.

Everything in the anti-void was absolutely white, it was almost blinding. There was absolutely nothing in this area, he didn't even know if he was standing on a floor or just floating around in space. Needless to say, it was starting to freak him out. He watched as Error walked in behind him and closed the portal.

"Is this where you live or something?" Sans asked, a chill running down his spine as he heard his voice echo into nothingness. "It's, uh... pretty big and empty."

"Ȩ̵ḩ̵, ̴͞you͏͝ g͏e̵̶t̷͟ ̴͜u͝҉ś͡e̵̸d̸ ̶͏̧t̸͡o ̷i̵͘t͞ ̷̷̨ą̴f̡̨͝te̷̕r̡ ̧a̡̛ ͞͏c̢o͟u̕͠pl̛̕͝e̸ ̧y͡ea͝r̵s͢͜,̕҉̀" Error replied with a shrug. "A͡͠҉n̵͘y͏w҉a͝y̕͜͡, ̧̨͜h͡e͢͢re̛'̵s ̵̧t͜҉h̕͟͟e͝ i͏s̸̴s̡̧ù͜e ̸͡a̷͢t̸͡͠ ҉h̀͢͠a̴͡͠ǹ͢ḑ̕:̡̕͞ ͏ỳo̸̸͠u͘͡ t̕o͘͡uc̡̛h͟in͡g ̀Bl̀ue͘҉ c̵a̕͡͝u͞s̀͢e̷̷d ̨́͟t̡͞he҉ ̴f̷̸͜a̧b̧̛r͢i͏҉̕c ͘o̢f ̕s̷p̀a̶҉c̨é-̸̡t̡im̀͘e͠ ͡t̷o̡͞͞ ̴ri͟p̧̢͞ -̕ ͘a̕s̷ ̵͡͡yó̶͠u ̸̧͢p͝ro͟͡b̶a͜b̷ļy ̢͟͢k̷͟n͜͞òw ̸-͡ ͝an̴d ̡͝a͡ f͡ȩw̨͘͠ ̴͝A͟U̸̸͟s̕ ̶̕͡h̶͟a̴͟vè̸ ̀͡b̧̡́e͢e̡̢ǹ͠ ͝ȩ̀f̕f̷́͞ȩ̴̵c̡҉te̢͞d̸̀͞ ͏̵b̶҉y ͡t̸̨̢h̛i͏̸̀s͏ ̨͞a̶̕͘n̶͏͞o͡ḿ̨a̶͢͜l̨̧y͢. ͠N̵o̶͢͠w͢ ͝a̴̕ ̴̡̧f́͟è͢w҉̵ ҉̕͘S̛͟a͠n̷s̡͜e̢s͟͢ ̷ąr҉e̵ ͢śc͜á̡͟t̴̷t̴e҉́r̕͞e̸͟͡d̕ ̴a͟r̷̨o҉͢u͟n̛͘d̶ ̸a̵n̛͘d̸̕҉ ̴t́͜o͏t̶̕al͡l͜y҉̴͘ ̶͠s͜͏c̢r̡͠ew̷̴͝i̧n̴͝͡g͠ ̢e̢v͝͞er̕y̨͜t̛h͝iǹ̨g͏̛ ̢u̶͝p̀.͟͞"

Sans watched as his glitchy counterpart opened six portals, each one seeming to be the gateway to a different universe. He recognized one of them to be Candytale, the world he was just in, and the one at the very end on the right was his home world. There, he spotted Papyrus cooking spaghetti in the kitchen, and he noticed that Underswap's Sans was there alongside him; the two were engaged in an excitable conversation.

The other worlds showed different versions of himself and Papyrus, but all the Sanses seemed to be terribly out of place. Error began to explain each universe as they went down the row: the first one was called Underfell, where the Sans from Candytale was trapped in. Another world known as Outertale had the Sans from Underfell; Underswap had the Sans from Outertale; and his home world, Undertale, had Blueberry. And of course Sans himself was previously trapped in Candytale.

Everything was completely swapped around, and Sans winced at how strange and wrong everything was.

"So, how do we return my counterparts to their respective worlds?" Sans asked.

"P̛͡f͝ft̕͠,́͝ ͘͟͟we̷҉?̷ ̛W͘͡h̶͢o̸̡͘'̧̛s̀ ̡́w͟͟͠e̢? ͘͢͞I̧͟'m ̢͝n͢o̸̕͠t͢ ͏̢̧t̵̢a͟k͡in̛͜g ̨̢҉àn̨͠y͏̵͞ ̛̕͜p͠҉ar̸t͟͝͝ ́͏ơ͡͡f̨̛ ̶t̀h́͞i̢s,͠͞" Error chuckled quite rudely. "I'̨͘m̡͘ ̴͘j̨͢u͢͡ś̢t̶̵ ̵͝͏h̸̡̧e͞re͢ to̢ ͟s͢͠͏h͠o̶͡ẃ ͏̛yo̷u̢̢̡ ͞wh͢a̛͠t̸̢ t̶h̶͝e̶ ̵̵h̷͏̧ę̴̛ll͠ ỳ̶ờù̕ ̀̀d̷į́d̨̛́ ͞w̴͘r̵o͜ņ͏͘g͟͝.҉ ̨͞͏If͝͞ ҉y͠o͝u ̨͘w̡a̴̡n̡̧n͜͢͡a̶̵ ̷́f́i͡x͘ y͏ou̡͜͜r̨ ͢m͠i͘͝s͟ta͘͟k͏̵̕e͞͏,̵͡ yǫ͠͡u̷͝ ͏̧g̛̀ǫ̷̸tt͘a̢͝ ͘d̛o ̶̷i̡͟t͟ ͝y̸ou̡r͢͠ş̷͘e̡̛l̨͢f.͝"

"How do I do that?" the original shouted, feeling stress and frustration start to boil up in his chest. "I caused this whole mess just by touchin' one of them!"

"Ę͡a̡s̵̷y:́ ͏ỳ̨o̵u̡̢ g͘͡ó̡͠ ̶í̢͢n̡t̴̨ó̷̷ ͜ea̧c҉̵͝h̡̀ ͜͠wo̵҉͢rl҉d ̢͜an͢d ̢͢͡c̶͟oa҉̀x̢ ͡͠͡é̛͡a̴̸͠çh̸ ̕͟S͜a̸͝n͡͏ş́͞ ̨҉͡i̡n̶͝t̴͟o̸̵҉ th͠͏è a̧nt̛͜i҉-́͡v͏̸oi͝d̴͜ ̵͏̛so y͟ou҉ ̡͟ć͜an̴̕͞ ̴̧f͠͝͝ì̕ņ̕d ͡the͢҉i̷͢r ̀h͞o̸̢͠m̨è̡̕ ̕͞ẁ̛͠o͜͡r̀̀l͜͜ḑ͜ ͡a̴͡n̴̡d̵ ̀̀͘bri̢n͝g̶̵ ̢t͝h̀͜͡e̡͡m̡̀͜ ͟҉ba͢c̵k̶̷͟.̷͜"

"Wouldn't it be easier if you did that instead?"

"Y̛͡ę̵a̶̧̕h̴̷̨, ̶̧p̢͡ŗ̴̀o͏̧̀b̛͜á̛͘b̡́ļ͘y̸̨͞," Error shrugged, "b́ut̴ ̀I̶ d̢̛͜o͠͝n'̛͟t̨̧͘ ̷͘h̷͏͘e͘͢͞l͜͠p̶͡ ̛͢A̧͟U̶s;̸ I̸ ̛͘d̴e̵s̕͢͡tr̨̡ǫ͞y͘͝ ̶t̡́h̢͜͡é̵͜ḿ̵.̨͜ ̴̨͜B̴̢́ès͘i̛d҉es̶̷̛,̸̷ ̷i҉̴t҉'͢l͝l͢ ̕͝b̵҉e̷͞ ̡͞f̀u̷͞n͡ ̧w̴a̷͘t̴̢c͘h̀͡į̵̷n̷͞g̢͝ ̛y̷̕͠o͝͞u ͜͢s͜ţ́ŗ͢u̢͞g̕͠g̵̨le̶̡͢ t̷͘͝o ̵̴͝b̕ri͞n͡ģ͘ ̡́e͏a͘c͟͜h̢̀͡ ̀͟Sa͘n͡s̢͏̛ ́b̴̶a̢c̨k̴̀.̨̢͘ ̴͡I͡t͡'̷l͏͏ĺ͜ ̸̸b̧͜e ̶̢͘a͘ ̛͠ni̕҉̵c̵͢e ́̕͡l̴͘͠i̷͠t̸͞t͘͢l̛͡e̵͞ ͢͏s҉̨͟h̶҉ow͢҉ ̢́f͏o̕͡r̸̴ ̢m̡͝e͘͟.́͡"

Sans rolled his eye lights and grunted a bit. "Alright, alright. So, which one do I go to first?"

"W̷̧̛h̀͘͜y̴̧ w̶o̧̧͞u̢̧͘ld̕͜ ̷̧͜Į ͟c̵a͘͡r̶͞͝è͞?͘ ͜҉Ju̷̧͘s̴͝t pic͟k̵͢ ̢ò̴̧ne̶̡!̀͝" the glitchy monster growled. "B̷̕ut̛͜͟ ͝͏͢i̧f̧̢ ́y̕͏ò́u̴͠ ͝r̷̛e̸͞a̧l͡l̕y͞҉ w̧̢̡ąn҉̶ņ̴a̴ ̧̛b̶̡ę͞ ̷d͘͜i̶̛f̢̡̀fi̢c̴ú͢͡l̵̕͡t, ̴̡s̵̸t̸͏͠ar̢͟t͞͏ ̧ơ̢n̶ ̛t͜h̕͞e̸ ̸͝ĺ̢eft̡̕ ̡à̢͠n͞d̷͜ ̵̵̧wo̴͢r̛k̴̵͟ ͝y͏óu̴̶͟r͝ ̡͏̶w̢͟͡a̴̧͟y̴ tơ͘ ͝t̴̀h̛̛͘e͡ ŗ͏i͝g͡h́t.͘͡ ́͢͡H͢a͝p̸͝p͢͢͜ý̡͠?̵̀͡"

"Ecstatic," Sans huffed sarcastically. He wasn't exactly sure how one of his counterparts were so rude and pushy since he himself wasn't. Whatever, it didn't matter. "So this first world is Underfell, right? And that Sans in there belongs to Candytale?"

" _Y͜e̕ś,̢_ " Error grinder his teeth in annoyance. "N̢ow͘͘ hù̕͢r̢̀͢r̵̢y̨͞ ̴up̧̕ s̷͢͞o̧ y̷̶o̶̡u̶͝ ͘͝ç͟a͘n ͏g҉ét͟ ́͏o͘͜͢ut̴t̡͡a̢͢ ͟͠͞h͠e͠҉̀r̕͠e̡͏,̕͟͝ I̷͟'̶̧m͢͝ ̷̕͟á̡̢ ͏҉͢b̨̡ú͞s̢y͞ ͢g͟͜ų́͢ỳ͠.̷̢ ͠O̧͝h̴͢͠,̴́ ̸a͘n̵d̶͠ ҉d͜͡o̵͜n'҉̢t͏͟ fo̧̢r̷͝͡g̷̶̸ȩt ̀ņot ͠t̶͘o ̧t̴̕͘o̷u̧ç͡h̵͟͡ ̕͝a̢n̷y̴҉̸ ̶͏̕Ş͠ą͞ns̡̢e̶͢͏s̸ ͡҉o͏r ̶͝el̸͘͏s̢e ̶y͟o͡͞ù'͘l̡͢͟l̢͏̧ ̵͘s̵͟c͝r͜e̸̡͝w̶͡ ́͘ę̛͡v̷̀èry̕͟t͏hi̢̨ng͠ ̶͟҉u̵͏p̶ ̧͟ev̷͝eǹ҉ ͜҉̀w̕͟o͘͜r̸̨s҉̢̢e͟͠ ̢t̵h̴a͡n ̀͢b҉e҉̀͠f͢͢óre̛͜.̵҉͝"

"Thanks for the help I suppose," Sans thanked half-heartedly before stepping forward to the gateway to Underfell. Everything looked so dark and dangerous; he knew he'd have to be very careful in a place like this considering he only had 1 HP. Mentally preparing himself, he stepped into the alternate universe, and the portal shrank a bit. This startled Sans, and he whipped back around. "H-Hey! Don't close me off!"

"I̶͟҉'m ͢n̶o̡͝t̷͢͏!" Error snapped. "Ke͢͟épi͝n̵̡g̴ ͟si̷̧͜x͟ ̡po̕͠r͝t͢a҉̶̧l̶͜s̡̕͞ ͏o͘pe̕n͢҉͜ ̷͟͞t͠҉ák̴̴e͠s ̶͢a ́͡l̨͢o͝t͝ ̡ơ͟f ̛e̷͠nę́r̶̛͡g͜y͜҉,̨̨ y͝à̛͡ k̶̕ņo̧ẃ̴̨!̴̴ ͘͞J҉̵̢ust̕ ̴̨b̀è ̸̡҉l̛͘u̵ć̨k̡y ̶͟I͞'͝m͟ ̢͘͜n̛ot̴͡ ̨̢̀ćļớ̷sińģ ͘ì͟t ͢͞c̶o͞mp̕l͞et̶̸͢el̡y̡!͟͞"

"Alright, alright, sheesh. I'll be right back."

The skeletal monster began to make his way into unknown territory, looking around and trying to spot any sort of colors that could possibly stand out from all the red and black everywhere. He figured he was somewhere in Snowdin Forest, as there was snow piling on the ground. For some reason, however, the snow looked a lot more gray than usual.

Horror struck through Sans as he stopped dead in his tracks, knowing exactly why the snow was gray. It was laced with dust. Sans felt like he was going to be sick despite lacking a stomach, but he pushed back his queasy feeling before trudging on.

It took him a little bit before he finally reached Snowdin Town, and everything looked very bleak and dark with dust covering nearly everything. Sans groaned in disgust as he looked down to find snow and dust all over his slippers, and he tried shaking it off as he made his way to this world's version of his house.

He prepared to knock when he heard a large crash from the inside, making him jump in alarm. What followed was several shouts from what sounded like Papyrus, but his voice seemed to be deeper and huskier... as well as much more hostile. This was incredibly startling, and for a moment he hesitated from knocking, tempted to flee right then and there. He was forced to remind himself, however, that the well-being of the alternate universes and the monsters in them were all depending on him to set everything right again, or else who knows what would happen. Exhaling nervously, he knocks on the door.

"WHO DARES DISTURB THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS?!" a booming voice roared from inside, causing Sans to back up a few steps. He listens in fright as the stomping of large boots grows louder and louder until the door is finally flung open. There standing in the doorway was Papyrus' Underfell counterpart, and he look absolutely horrifying. He wore a long red cape and intimidating red and black attire for a battle body. His teeth were spiked like a bear trap and there were many cracks on his right socket.

Papyrus quickly spotted Sans and glared down at him, a deep growl rumbling in the back of his throat. "What do you want?"

Sans gulped and stuffed his hands in his pockets for a similar feeling of security, trying to force himself to stop trembling. "U-Uhh... Heya. I'm S-Sans-"

"And which pathetic excuse for a copy of my brother are you supposed to be?"

"I, uh... I'm Sans Classic... if you heard of me..."

Papyrus' eyes arched a bit, looking a bit surprised. This look was quickly overridden by the same terrifyingly hostile expression. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, uh, I heard about what's been going on with all these AUs and this one copy of me who lives in the anti-void said it's up to me to send all the scattered Sanses back to their home universes. I'm here to return Candytale's Sans, and then I'll bring your Sans back after that."

Papyrus glared at Sans, narrowing his sockets in suspicion. After what felt like forever, he finally gave a curt nod and stepped aside to let Sans past him. Sans gulped nervously before slowly walking past him and into the home.

The house from the outside looked pretty bad with the chipped paint and broken windows, but the inside was much worse. It was nearly pitch black and the furniture was in ruins. The walls had many holes in them and the carpet underfoot had many stains and burnt spots on it. A soft murmuring was heard from upstairs in where Sans guessed was Papyrus' room.

"He's in my room," Papyrus grunted abruptly, startling Sans and making him jump. "Get him and get out. Don't come back without my brother, and then leave this place for good."

"Yeah, like I'd wanna come back to a dusty, scary ol' world like this one..." Sans muttered under his breath before making his way upstairs. He slowly opened the door, and pushed it open, and the very first thing he saw inside was an alternate Sans dressed in bright colors tied up in ropes with a rag over his mouth to gag him. He was sitting in the corner of the room, whimpering and struggling to escape.

Sans knew immediately that this Sans was Candytale's Sans.

"Hey, why the heck did you tie him up?" Sans called, his shock making him sound much more angry than he intended. To his relief, Underfell's Papyrus didn't decide to storm in to attack him or even scream back; he must be ignoring him. Huffing, Sans turned to the taffy monster before him and summoned a spiked bone to saw through the ropes. "Hey, you alright, kid?"

Candytale's Sans nodded, blinking pink tears out of his eyes. Sans finished cutting through the rope and removed the gag, but quickly teleported to the other end of the room when the doppelgänger stretched out his arms. "H-Hey, sorry about that. I'd love to hug you, you seem to be a really  **sweet**  kid, but, uh... I've been warned that if I touch another Sans everyone in these universes will just scatter around again."

The small, colorful skeletal monster looked very disappointed, almost heartbroken, but he nodded in understanding and pushed himself up to his feet to follow Sans out of the room.

"Remember not to return without my brother," Underfell's Papyrus reiterated with a low growl as he sat on the living room couch, shooting dirty looks at the two alternate versions of his brother. "And don't come back, either. Make it quick, I don't have all day to wait for you fixing your mistakes."

"Alright, alright, keep your scarf on," Sans grunted back. Never in a million years would he imagine finding himself getting fed up with any Papyrus. But lo and behold... "I'll have him back in a sec. Just need to find which world he's in. Alright?"

Papyrus let out a grunt, but didn't say anymore. He watched with malice as the two shorter monsters made their way out of the house and through Snowdin Town.

"So, uh," Sans began after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. "You're from Candytale, right? Is it nice in your world?"

Candytale's Sans looked up at the original and grinned brightly. "Yeah! It's really nice! Really yummy, too! I love eating sweets there! It's kinda difficult to make out what's candy and what isn't sometimes, though."

"I could only imagine, your brother looks good enough to eat with milk," Sans chuckled. "Not that I'd do that to begin with. And what about you? You look like, uh... cotton candy?"

"Taffy actually! It's one of my favorite sweets! My favorite is strawberry syrup, though, it's so delicious!"

"Strawberry syrup, huh? My condiment's ketchup."

By the time the two monsters reached the portal that was still narrowed to save Error's energy, they had struck up quite a neat conversation about the similarities and differences of their worlds. Turns out both worlds had so much in common - well, it was kind of a given since Candytale is an altered copy of the original world. Taffy Sans' world shared the same people, the same places, and the same predicament of being trapped underground by a barrier; the only difference was everyone and everything either was or resembled some kind of candy. If there was an alternate universe made entirely of candy, Sans thought with a wide grin, then perhaps there was also a world made entirely of ketchup and grease. Now that would be a world he'd want to visit regularly!

Sans approached the small portal and waved a hand through it. "Yo, Error, I got Taffy back. Let us in, why dontcha?"

"I̕ţ͝'̷̨s̡ a͏̡͡b̛ơ̴̕u̕t͡ ̨̛̀t̵͘͘i̕͢͝m̷̴e̶,̀" he heard Error's glitchy grumble from the other side. The portal widened, allowing both Sanses to walk back into the blinding, endless whiteness of the anti-void. "I͟ w̡͢a҉ş͢ ̧ś̵t̶a̧̛͝r̷̵̡t́͏i͞n҉g҉ t̀o͏͟ ̨̨g̶e͏t ̸̕im̀́͞p͏at̸͠i͏҉e̛nt̴͝.̡"

"Slow and steady wins the race, pal," Sans retorted with a sly wink. He grinned in satisfaction as he was rewarded with a little hiss from the averted skeleton. He turned to Taffy and grinned brightly. "So, kid, you ready to see your bro again?"


End file.
